Fan Bingbing’s boyfriend Li Chen denies accusations that she is a man-stealer

Some nasty drama has already erupted in the wake of Fan Bing Bing and Li Chen’s debut as a couple on social media, to the point where Li was forced to speak up about allegations that Fan stole him away from his ex.Fan, 33, and Li, 36, confirmed their relationship last week when he posted an image of the two together on Weibo. The two are co-stars on the popular (now cleavage-less) TV drama The Empress of China, and rumors about their off-screen relationship had been floating around for months.Celebrity couples’ media debuts are meant to a be a joyous occasion, filled with some of the most positive publicity (US media would christen them with a name like Blingbling). But Fan and Li’s parade has decidedly been rained upon.Li’s ex-girlfriend Zhang Xinyu, 28, apparently stirred up some trouble with a vague message posted on Weibo, reading: “Sometimes the people you think will be around all your life might suddenly disappear, and there isn’t even a chance to hug them.”The Straits Times continues:

On Sunday, Li spoke up for Fan, saying he had to “protect her” from allegations that she stole him from his former girlfriend.

He wrote on Weibo: “Whatever I come out and say, I’m giving the other side a chance for publicity. But if I say nothing, I’m seeing Little Fan being slandered and hurt for no reason.”

“What must be made clear is, the moment I knew Miss Zhang had cheated on me, she and I were done,” he said.

“Nobody in this world can find happiness by hurting others. You have your tricks, I have my life. After today, whatever trouble Miss Zhang starts, we won’t reply. May your life go well, may our paths no longer cross in this life.”

Buuuuurn.Li and Fan confirmed their relationship on Friday, and the image of the two was shared some 980,000 times by Saturday. The picture, simply captioned “us”, inspired a meme that may explain why your WeChat moments were clogged up with images titled #我们 over the past few days.